As it prepares to launch its first product, online video audience measurement startup Visible Measures Inc. has tapped Mohr Davidow Ventures to lead a $13.5 million second round of funding.

The funding announcement, expected Monday, will coincide with Visible Measures' official product launch, and accompanies news that the company has acquired video analytics company Vidmeter Inc. of San Diego for an undisclosed amount.

The company emerged from stealth mode last March with $5 million in Series A funding from General Catalyst Partners of Cambridge, Mass. GCP also provided capital in the current round.

Other stakeholders in Visible Measures include Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Edward Roberts and Goldman, Sachs & Co. managing director Eric Dobkin, which provided the lion's share of the startup's $800,000 seed round.

Chief executive and founder Brian Shin would not give Visible Measures' valuation but said it was "definitely up" since the Series A round a year ago.

Shin said Mohr Davidow was among many venture firms that approached Visible Measures following its appearance at the Under The Radar conference last summer. Shin said he was especially attracted to the firm due to its experience backing behavioral marketing firm Revenue Science Inc. of Bellevue, Wash.

Visible Measures works with advertisers and video publishers to track online video usage, including when and how videos are paused, replayed, forwarded and abandoned. Vice president of marketing and analytics, Matt Cutler, said the company's pilot program, which included advertising agencies such as Hill Holliday of Boston and the Boston Globe's Boston.com Web site, allowed Visible Measures to better tailor its software to its clients' needs.

Shin confirmed that the testing program produced paying customers, although he would not provide further details regarding the company's revenue position.

Several other companies with techniques for analyzing online video behavior have sprouted up. Among them are Streametrics Corp. Inc. of Montreal, Nedstat BV of Amsterdam and Tubemogul.com Inc. of Berkeley, Calif.

Shin said Visible Measures has also held discussions with larger organizations, such as Nielsen Co. of New York and publicly traded comScore Inc. of Reston, Va., either of which could be a potential partner to the startup.
Visible Measures completed the deal without a financial adviser and looked to William J. Schnorr Jr. and Itai Nevo of Goodwin Procter LLP for legal services.